UN chief proposes peacekeepers as option for Burundi
Latest update : 2015-12-01
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday that deploying peacekeepers to Burundi was an option to quell the violence but recommended that a UN team be first sent to help bolster dialogue.
Ban laid out three options to address the crisis in a letter to the UN Security Council, which has adopted a resolution calling for measures to prevent mass atrocities in Burundi.
Among those options was setting up a special political mission to monitor human rights, support political dialogue and lay the groundwork for a possible peacekeeping operation.
Citing “existing political realities” and security concerns, Ban however shied away from recommending the deployment of a full-fledged peacekeeping operation or a political mission.
He put forward a third option – a UN support team – that would work with the Bujumbura government to shore up a dialogue with the opposition.
“Violence in Burundi has reached alarming levels,” Ban said in the letter to the 15-member council, which was also briefed by UN special advisor Jamal Benomar.
Launching a dialogue “must be the absolute priority while we continue to find ways, with our partners in the region, to stop the deterioration of the security situation and prevent massive violence and a possible full-blown war,” Ban said.
‘No political dialogue’
UK envoy to the United Nations Matthew Rycroft confirmed that a peacekeeping operation was being considered, but stressed that it was the “highest” of several options concerning “an enhanced UN presence” in the country.
“The situation on the ground continues to be disturbing,” Rycroft told reporters in New York. “There’s been little process on the political dialogue. In fact, Benomar told us that there isn’t any political dialogue. So we have to push the parties into that dialogue […] using either private or public diplomacy.”
Burundi descended into violence in April after President Pierre Nkurunziza launched a bid to prolong his term in office and later won elections that UN observers said were neither credible nor free.
At least 240 people have died the conflict and more than 200,000 have fled the country.
In the latest outbreak of violence, gunmen late on Sunday opened fire on a bar in Bujumbura, killing an army major and wounding the husband of the senate’s deputy speaker.
Ten civil society organisations that led the movement against Nkurunziza’s re-election bid have been shut down and there has been a worrying rise in hate speech.
Security Council envoys are considering a trip to Bujumbura to encourage political talks and to press the government to step back from the brink of major bloodshed. A date for the trip has not been set, Rycroft said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Date created : 2015-12-01
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